Pekka Koskela

1.1.2010-31.12.2014
University of Jyväskylä
mathematics

Professor Pekka Koskela of the University of Jyväskylä achieved his most significant scientific breakthroughs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Working closely with Professor Juha Heinonen, he solved a major long-standing problem in the theory of quasiconformal mappings. Together with Heinonen and Associate Professor Piotr Hajlasz, he created the foundation for an entirely new mathematical theory, i.e. the theory of analysis in metric measure spaces. And together with his students and post doc researchers, he set out systematically to develop a theory of mappings of finite distortion. These three breakthroughs continue to have a major influence on current research.

These breakthroughs are also reflected in Koskela’s citation indices. Professor Koskela is the most productive and most cited contemporary Finnish mathematician. Since 1990, he has had 110 articles published or accepted in refereed journals, many of which are among the leading journals in this field. His highest citation impact figures of 305 and 268 are quite exceptional for a mathematician.

As Academy Professor, Pekka Koskela will be continuing his research in the fields he has instigated and also following new lines of inquiry: analysis in metric spaces, mappings of finite distortion and the development and use of curvatures in new contexts.